


The Scavenger

by lighthouseglow



Series: The Jedi Archives [6]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Ableism, Ancient History, Anxiety Disorder, Authority Figures, Bullying, Character Development, Character Study, Disabled Character, Dubious Morality, Gen, Gray Jedi, Gritty, Internal Conflict, Jedi Temple, Jedi Training, Legends, Libraries, Minor Original Character(s), Moral Ambiguity, New Jedi Order, Physical Disability, Psychological Trauma, Seduction to the Dark Side, War, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 09:19:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6699076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lighthouseglow/pseuds/lighthouseglow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the ground level, day-to-day activity of fighting a war, sometimes I have no idea what we’re fighting about or which side we’re on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Scavenger

First it was a Jedi Temple. Then it was the Emperor’s palace. Now we’re trying to reclaim it again for the Jedi Order. This is the stuff you think about when you fall asleep working in the Jedi archives on Coruscant. We’ve got recovering Resistance fighters here too, but luckily for me none of them are in the mood for reading about extremely ancient history. On the ground level, day-to-day activity of fighting a war, sometimes I have no idea what we’re fighting about or which side we’re on.

I’m just a Padawan and an archivist to boot—maybe if someone can find Master Luke I can continue with, you know, actual training. Until then, my lightsaber will lie dormant and I will putter about the temple in my hoverchair. Like my namesake in the legends, I built my blue lightsaber myself—that was years ago now, maybe twelve. So I must’ve been fourteen. I was the lone youngling at the Gathering in a hoverchair; measures were taken to be sure none of us cheated, of course. If any of the other kids made cracks about my legs, I’d calmly say that Master Yoda used one and kicked Palpatine’s ass--

“Language, youngling! Master Luke would be very upset if he were here!” our teacher would say. Master Luke was the bogeyman to us as children; he was this very stern, silent, mythic man that we would only meet when we were old enough, ready enough. His disappearance, then, didn’t shake me up too badly the way it did with the rest of the galaxy. All I wanted was to fight in the Resistance against this phantom enemy I honestly knew very little about…

…But then again, so did everyone else.

“You’d look really weird fighting the First Order in that thing, Rey.”

“Judge me by my size, asshole?”

“That wrinkly frog—”

And I nearly mowed him down with my hoverchair as a result—my lightsaber might have killed him. It was…at times like that that switching sides and going Sith was…very appealing to me. Darth Revan wouldn’t have taken youngling bantha shit and she’d tear him apart with her lightsaber. According to stories, her lightsaber was blue too.

I hung on to that connection as fiercely as any young Jedi could. “I think… Nah, never mind, Dev.”

“You think what, Rey?” my best friend asked as we watched Coruscant’s moonlight play across the Jedi dorm ceiling one night. This was…shortly before the present, before now, before I started sleeping on the archive floor with Dom the Ewok at my feet for warmth. He probably dreams of deep green forests and the home he left behind on Endor. He is not caught in the net that is the present, listening to those sick X-Wing pilots coughing down the hall.

“I think…that Master Skywalker might be wrong about the Light and Dark side. What about the space in between the two…?”

“Master Luke always knows what he’s doing.”

“He’s human, Dev. Even humans can be wrong about some things.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? I want to go back to bed; you know I get my first assignment away from the academy tomorrow…”

“I’m talking about questioning what we’ve been taught, Dev.”

“Are you suggesting we abandon the Order?!” she hissed shrilly. “We can’t; we’ve been here all our lives!”

“I’m not saying that. I’m saying that sometimes the people in charge make mistakes…and it’s our job to investigate them.”

The Code is wrong, sometimes. At night there is no peace, but fear…and it moves through the temple like a poisonous gas and we warriors can’t breathe…


End file.
